Kraig's Cave Creek Commentary

Posted By Kraig Nelson on Sep 1, 2020

OCTOBER 2020

In this brief commentary, Kraig Nelson combines insights into Cave Creek’s history and the current real estate market in Cave Creek, Scottsdale, and Carefree.Â The Peak thanks the Cave Creek Museum for their long-standing support of the Desert Foothills Scenic Drive.

Kraig’s History Highlights

From the Cave Creek Museum
Kraig Nelson, Historian

The Cave Creek school teacher needed the job. The pay was around $65 a month ($2,050 in 2020) per Cave Creek School District #93, and now School District #23. He was in his third year of teaching at the one-room school located on the east side of the ancient Cave Creek stream (near today’s Rancho Manana Golf Resort). Twenty-four-year-old Alfred C. Lockwood had a problem in 1899, too few students, his needed job was in jeopardy, and he needed to pay for his law-school education.

The school had been built in 1886 on the property known as Cave Creek Station which had been established as an isolated, welcoming store and later post office in 1877 by Jeriah and Amanda Wood. The property was now owned by “Jedder” and Jennie Hoskin. In 1899 the Hoskins’ were in their nineteenth year of ownership when tragedy struck; Jennie Hoskin became seriously ill and unfortunately died. The shaken husband sold Cave Creek Station to James D. Houck (the “Sheep King of Cave Creek”) and moved to Phoenix taking his seven children. That was a devastating blow to the small Cave Creek school putting the school’s existence in jeopardy because of too few students.

The late historian Francis C. Carlson tells us how Alfred Collins Lockwood solved the enrollment issue and therefore his job. Resourcefully, Alfred brought his three younger siblings, one sister and two brothers from the small town of Phoenix, about thirty-five miles away, and enrolled them in the small Cave Creek school. He set up two tent-houses near the school to shelter his youthful siblings. His father, Walter C. Lockwood (1853-1904) remained in Phoenix and his mother, Elizabeth W. Lockwood (1853-1897) had died two years earlier.

His ingenious enrollment solution provided a way to keep the school open and continue his education, which was an apprenticeship. Alfred was a law-apprentice, he was “reading law.” This was the process which one procured a law profession. Although the American Bar Association, established in 1878, set standards for law schools, the process of attending a law school to facilitate a law degree was decades in the future.

The sagacious Alfred Lockwood was admitted to the Arizona Bar in 1902. The Cave Creek teacher from Ottawa, Illinois, born July 20, 1875, married Daisy Maude Lincoln, and moved to Nogales, Arizona, where he practiced law for a year. He and his wife and new baby daughter, Lorna Elizabeth, moved to Douglas, Arizona where Alfred spent five years as city attorney from 1905 to 1910. Another daughter would arrive in 1907 (Alfreda Charlotte) and a son (Chester Ralph) in 1912.

Alfred Lockwood’s professional ascension continued with his becoming an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Arizona in 1925. The highlight of his legal career was becoming the 8^th, 11^th, and 14^th Chief Justice of Arizona’s Supreme Court in 1929, 1935, and 1941, respectively. The esteemed former Cave Creek teacher retired from the bench in January 1943. He continued to practice law until July 1, 1950; his legal career spanned an impressive forty-eight years. On October 29, 1951, the admired jurist died in Phoenix. Historian Carlson stated, “Although he taught at Cave Creek for only three years, he retained for the rest of his life fond memories of his teaching days there, and the friends that he made.”

Kraig’s Realty Reality

Octoberr 2020

Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, data published July 2020J

Kraig R. Nelson, PLLC- Associate Broker

Distressed sales (short sales and lender owned) represent .60% of the total sales volume. Same as last month.

Distressed sales (short sales and lender owned) represent .40% of the total sales volume. Same as last month.
There is a 1.52-month supply of residential inventory in the Phoenix Metro Area. Generally, a balanced market for buyers and sellers is about 6 months; however, all accurate statistics are neighborhood specific.
Total residential inventory [13,510 units] is 22.80% lower than one year ago.
Average days on market in Metro Phoenix is 51 days; 12 fewer days compared to one year ago.
Median sold price in Metro Phoenix is $325,000; 16.10% higher than one year ago.
Average sales price in Metro Phoenix is $398,800; 17.70% higher than one year ago.
Monthly rent for single-family residential: average lease is $1,937. A lease is considered to be one-year.
Total Phoenix Metro residential units sold and closed last month: 8,878; this is 1.70% higher than one year ago.
Summit Funding in Tempe, Arizona reports a conventional, 30-year-mortgage, fixed-rate, is 2.875% and a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 2.50%; both 5% down. Interest rates are based on credit scores, daily financial markets, specifically, the 10-year bond yield. No change.
Sales price compared to the Original list price was 98.80%. This means a home listed for $400,000 would sell for about $395,200.

The Peak Welcomes Your Comment

The Peak invites you to share your thoughts about this article by using the “Submit a Comment” box at the bottom of this page. All comments are reviewed based on The Peak’s Comment Policy prior to publishing.

GPPA Membership Make a Donation to GPPA Peak Advertisements & Advertorials